Ranunculus ficaria 2014

[Maggi Young]

It's an odd thing  with the "WayBack" thing - sometimes the photos are preserved, sometimes not.
And. of course, their records are not complete.
Re photos: For instance, some of
the photos of the blackbirds nesting in our glasshouse are included here :
https://web.archive.org/web/20110703133621/http://www.srgc.org.uk/discus/messages/321/2151.html?1107207705


I'll attach the posts in the link shown by Alan above here- as a wee record, at least :

pdf of archived Ranuncula ficaria cultivars
 Ranunculus ficaria page from old forum.pdf (171.18 kB - downloaded 208 times.)

[lettuce begin]

Thank you very much for the link Maggi 
 

[lettuce begin]

Ranunculus ficaria 'Double Green Eye' not everyone's cup tea but I love it.

[Lesley Cox]

Alan, increasing them is not really hard, you can lift them now and divide them, as long as you make sure you have some corms with a crown, you'll have a new plant. And if you divide in Summer almost every separare "tuber" can make a new plant in the following Spring!

Managing NOT to propagate them seems to me to be the problem.

[Alan_b]

My garden was blessed with a form of Ranunculus ficaria which also produced little 'bulbs' ("tubercules") from the leaf nodes - a characteristic that does not seem to be shared by the cultivated varieties.  I have been trying to eliminate this form in favour of my cultivars and their seedlings with some success.  The cultivars tend to be low-growing and they are only above ground for a few months each year so they would not really be a severe problem even if they got a bit out of hand.  My aim is to use the dark-leaved forms as a contrasting ground cover against which to view other spring flowers, snowdrops for example. 

[Maggi Young]

Would the ranuculus foliage be out early enough to achieve that purpose, Alan?  I don't think it would be up here.

[mark smyth]

I love these plants and used to have a massive collection until cats started digging them out and wood pigeons began eating them. I will start again but next time they will be grown in tiny baskets

They are looking good in my garden but are now through each other

[Alan_b]

Would the ranuculus foliage be out early enough to achieve that purpose, Alan? 

Good question, Maggi.  I find that mature plants tend to produce some foliage quite early and so yes, early enough for the bulk of the snowdrops.  But it might be that enough celandines to give full coverage of the soil in February would become too dense by flowering time in March - I have not reached that stage yet to find out.

[astragalus]

Mark, I had one year when the squirrels and chipmunks were digging in the R. ficaria and Dicentra cucullaria area like mad.  I was sure they'd all be gone in the spring.  But what happened is that they spread both plants everywhere.  It was the easiest propagating ever.

[Alan_b]

I have observed wood pigeons eating the corms of ranunculus ficaria but fortunately for me the were eating the ranunculus ficaria var. bulbifer ones that I want rid of.  I don't think they bother to go prospecting if they can find some tubers above ground as they can in that case.   

[Alan_b]

This is a particularly large-leaved form that I found last year; the one I want to propagate.

 

[lettuce begin]

Lovely leaf colour  Alan.
The flowers look good even when closed with that very nice red shading to the back of the petals

[Anne Repnow]

Interesting plant, Alan!
I found one with dark spots in the middle of the leaf. So that seems to be a trait that is not totally unusual.

The first two photos are F. ficaria 'Randall's White' - but the silvery colour of the leaves isn't always as prominent as on the first photo
Third photo: good old 'Picton's Double'
Fourth: 'Ken Aslet'

[Alan_b]

I have just bought from John Carter a copy of his report on his (then) National Collection of Ranunculus ficaria written in 2007.  This cost £15 for a soft copy in Word format and runs to 47 pages.  It is a comprehensive account of all his cultivars, illustrated with small photographs.  I have not read it thoroughly yet but it seems very good.  You can contact John via his website: http://www.rowdengardens.com/

John's basic form of e-publishing seems an interesting way to make a little money from a work of reference but one has to trust the purchasers not to abuse the copyright.   

[mark smyth]

I used to have it but lost it. No list of Ranunculus on his web site

Here is something new. Its not the best photo. My camera doesn't like the combination of colours - R. f. Sun Wheel